Past Can't Be Erased
by naruto1fan2000
Summary: Kakashi has surpassed all his past problems... most of them, mostly because a new person appears in his life. Or should I say known person? The past is defined, the present is on the line. What does future have prepared for the White Fang's son?
1. Introduction

The autumn colors started to cover the once grey scenery. The forest trees filled the panorama with different shades of brown and yellow; the wind softly muttered in a breeze form and made various types of leaves glide around like small hot air balloons filling the woodland of life and movement.

A female figure subtly appeared between two old trees and started walking by a pathway someone had built there to facilitate the access to the village. Her dry-green long hair delicately flew as the wind lightly blew against her well-carved face. She could smell the nature, and it was so relaxing. She could hear the birds singing, and it was wonderful. She could fell the roughness of the tree boles as she passed her gentle hand on them, and it was welcoming. She could taste the season's freshness, and it was pleasant. And with all this feelings, she could see the scene forming on her mind, she could pretend she opened her eyes and saw the animals, the plants, the light-orange sky… But this was the closest she could get to see something. With her imagination.

As she approached the village's gate, she felt something new: fear. Fear of non-acceptance. But as she entered the town and started to smell the life, hear the voices, touch the man-made stone floor and taste the happiness of people walking around, she felt a lot more tranquil. Her mouth unconsciously started to form a genuine smile.

She took a while, but she was finally able to find the memorial stone. She slowly approached it. She could feel someone else's presence, someone she already knew.

"Kakashi…" She muttered. The White Fang's son woke up from his deep thinking and turned around.

"Well, long time no see…" He said gravely.

**Here is the beginning of this new project! I'm expecting something good to come out of this! The first chapter is kind of small because it's just the introduction, but the new ones will be bigger.**

**Read+Review+Follow+Favourite :)**


	2. A Hard Decision

**An unexpected person appears in the Hidden Leaf Village, and she has something to do with Kakashi's past. Not only that, she has changed since the last time they saw each other, physically and psychologically.**

**Back at the memorial stone…**

"Kakashi…" She muttered. The White Fang's son woke up from his deep thinking and turned around.

"Well, long time no see…" He said gravely.

"So it's really you." She had now the confirmation.

"Yes, can't you see me?" He though her affirmation was quite odd.

She opened her eyes, and all he could see were two deep grey swords that crushed his heart in a thousand little pieces. He made his I-can't-even-believe face. It wasn't possible!

"Y-you're… blind." He let out, unconsciously. She nodded, smiling.

"I've changed, Kakashi. I could always fake I was from the Hyuuga clan, couldn't I?"

"Don't say that! Don't kid with serious problems!"

"Calm down. It's okay. I'm used to it, now." A breeze passed through them and made Kakashi tenderly shiver. All his memories passed through his mind. He remembered when he found her, lost from her home. He remembered how he had taught her how to find her way by watching the clouds, her eyes shining as he talked to her, her hair floating in the pleasant air, her beauty in the light of a beautiful day. «She smelled like roses», he remembered. «and she still does». He had to ask.

"Why have you come?" He noticed his own face had formed a smile while he was reviewing such great memories, and immediately made a severe face again. She started deep thinking. "So?" He remembered her of her own existence. She stirred up.

"I wanted to see you and Rin. How is she doing?" She grinned again.

"We both know that's not why you came." The White Fang's son passed his hand on her beloved's name, engraved on the rigid and cold stone. "She's not with us, not anymore." His face became obscure. The shame and guilt fell one more time on his shoulders. "I killed her."

The blind girl's face became as white as chalk. "You wouldn't." She was certain of what she was saying.

"I would." He replied. "I'll ask again: why have you come? Tell me the truth."

"Something bad happened. Something really bad. The Hidden Leaf was the only place I could go."

"What happened?" He wasn't showing much interest but, in fact, he was quite curious.

"The Lock Village, it was attacked. I'm afraid it has already but burnt into ashes." At this statement, his eyes grew wide. "I ran away. Without my eyes, I'm useless. I couldn't fight. Please understand my position, Kakashi." He nodded.

"Maybe you're right, but what you did _still_ is a dishonour." He was still facing the stone. He couldn't stand the view of her blind old friend.

"I'm aware of that, and I'm ashamed." She hid her face in the darkness of the shadow.

"Who was the attacker?" He wondered why the Lock Village didn't send any help requests to any other villages. Odd.

"I shall not divulgate that information."

"Look, you came to me and I accept to help you, but you _have _to tell what I need to know!" Kakashi was really starting angry.

"I didn't come for help." The wind delicately blew again and made some leaves fly around; one of them landed on her headband and covered the Lock Villages symbol. "I don't wish to come back. I wish to stay here, in the Leaf Village." Kakashi's eyes grew wide again. He finally faced her.

"You know you can't. Aren't you already in the Bingo Book?"

"I don't know. Many Lock villagers ran away to different places and I haven't seen any posters with our photos saying «WANTED»."

Kakashi was thinking. "They considered you war survivors?"

"Probably."

"You'll stay at my house tonight. But then you'll find another place."

She nodded. She wondered why his old friend was being so mad at her. They had built a great friendship and they trusted their lives to each other, they had even _kissed, but_ Kakashi was now rejecting her like some traitor. This made her feel extremely lonely and melancholic.

Her heart turned grey and a tear she had be holding for long slipped out of her blind eye and flowed down her face, emphasizing her cold and subtle beauty.

"I've got to go, now. I'm already late. Naruto and Sakura will kill me if I keep them waiting one more minute." He just puffed away.

/-/-/-/

The sunset had already finished and the night was starting to take place. People were heading off to their homes. As Kakashi walked home, the lights inside the houses filled the street of life. It was possible to hear the villagers happily talking to their families about the huge fish they had caught or the promotion they had been awarded with. He could smell the delicious dinners in each house more tempting. He could taste the energy he knew since he was just a little boy, the Leaf energy. He could touch his wood house door, the empty house without any light, or noise of people talking inside it, or smell of dinner waiting for him. A lonely house, for a lonely jounin. He closed his eyes. It was so cold. Such aloneness was demeaning.

"Here you are." Kakashi turned back to see her morning company on the other side of the street, pretending to look at him. It was now obvious she really was blind, because she couldn't tell precisely where he was, she could only feel his presence. Her blind eyes didn't precisely look at him, they were looking to somewhere near to him, a little bit more above than his precise place.

"How did you find my house? I was going to go look for you."

"We both know you weren't going to look for me, so I tried to find your house myself. It seems like I succeeded."

"You always do." He said gravely. "Come in. You have much to explain."

The jounin and the Lock villager were both sat on the living room floor. The heavy ambient was taking the two down, the silence was hurting them. It needed to be broken.

"You're going to explain things on your will or do I have to make you explain them?" Kakashi wasn't in his best mood. She understood he was right and sighed.

"What do you want to know?"

"The truth. Don't you think I don't know you've been lying since you got here?" It was like he already had the answer prepared because he replied immediately.

She sighed again. "Three months ago, I ran away from the Lock Village because we're being infiltrated by unknown professional privet detectives. We didn't even know from which village they were!"

"Then how did you know they were there?"

"Because they were actually pursuing me. I was afraid they wanted to pull some kind of information from me, so I made sure that they wouldn't, and I escaped without being seen. But they'll find me, I know it. It's just a matter of time…"

"How did you manage to escape from them?" Kakashi sure was impressed. She made a who-do- -you-think-I-am face and he got the idea. "Right." He said. "And you came here to hide yourself?" He sounded quite dubious.

"At first, that was the idea, but I can't stay here for long: they're coming to get me. And besides, I found this in my way here." She passed him a «WANTED» poster. It had a photo of two masked men and some information about them. She continued her explanation. "These guys are S-ranked, and not only that: many village's best ninja, including ANBU have already tried to catch them, but they always ended up aborting the mission, they couldn't find a single trace of them!"

Kakashi wasn't impressed. He had already heard about many S-ranked criminals who couldn't be traced: it was the everyday meal.

"So, what do you pretend to do?" He felt that he had the obligation of helping her, even if he hadn't nothing to do with it. Odd. He didn't even know why he felt like this. Could it be companion?

"I have no idea. The only thing I know is that I need to leave as soon as I can, but what could the best hideout be? Maybe a small village."

"Here."

"Here?!" She was incredulous.

"Reverse psychology. Apparently the worst place to hide would be a big village like Konoha, because you would be quickly noticed."

"Exactly!"

"_But_, that's what _they_ think _you_'re thinking, so the first place they would look for you are the small and unnoticed villages, get it?"

"Yes, but that's too risky. I can't support on suppositions, I have to be sure of what I'm doing!"

"And that's why you'll stay here."

"No, I'll leave by tomorrow morning. I can't risk being caught because I based my thinking on reverse psychology."

"You're not getting it… You'll be trapped in a snap's instant if you don't listen to me." He said calmly.

"Sorry." As she said this, she got up and went to her room, which Kakashi had shown to her earlier.

**Do you already know who she is? :D If you don't, the identity will be revealed in the next chapter! What will happen?**

**And I'll try to write bigger chapters, meanwhile. c:**

**Enjoy+Follow+Favourite+Review!**


	3. A New Mission

**She's ready to leave! Isn't she? Will Kakashi lose her from sight? Again? Anyway, identity revealed in this chapter! Enjoy!**

The morning started beautifully. Kakashi woke up with the birds singing. He looked out of his bedroom window. He seemed surprised the village had already so much life so early in the daybreak. Yet, it wasn't as noisy as it would be in the middle of the day. He sighed and got out of his room, still wearing his night-suit. He knocked at the door as he arrived to her room.

"Hanare?" He called. The door was opened from inside. She was already dressed in order to leave.

"Great." He said as he turned around and started walking to the kitchen. "I was hoping you were still here to take breakfast."

"I don't have time for that."

"Yes, you do. Come on."

She sighed and followed him, but only because she admitted to herself she was a bit hungry.

"Here." Kakashi said as he put some milk and bread on the table. She was able to know what the food was because, being blind, her other senses had become keener.

She made a disillusion face to him. "Do you call this breakfast?!"

His eyes grew wide. He didn't understand what she meant. "What is it about the milk?"

Hanare got up from the table. "Give me some space." As she said this, he moved away and sat at the table, watching her cooking.

In the end, she put two bowls on the table. Kakashi sure was impressed. "Ramen?" He let out. "For breakfast?"

"Don't you want to have the energy for the day? Anyway, if you don't want it, you could drink your dear milk and eat the bread…" She challenged him.

"Ramen it is!" He said with a huge smile and started eating like it was his last meal. She grinned.

"So I finally get to see your face."

He babbled something while eating, so she didn't understand. Hanare sat on the table next to him and started eating as well, but more properly.

They quickly finished their breakfast. She got up. "I'm leaving, now." She said.

"Wait. I've got to talk to you before you go."

"Kakashi, I have to-"

"No. You hear me, now. Where do you pretend to go, exactly?"

"I don't know. Somewhere safe."

"You're not going alone."

Her eyes grew wide. "W-what do you mean?"

"I'm going as well, along with a medical ninja."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Look, this is _my _problem. I'm going alone."

"You aren't understanding: this isn't arguable."

"If someone's not understanding something here, that person is you. I can take care of myself!"

"No you can't. You're blind, Hanare!"

This last sentence touched her, negatively. She hid her face in the shadow. Kakashi regretted this immediately, he didn't want to say it.

"I'm sorry." He quickly apologised. "I just can't handle letting you go like this. I don't let my comrades die. I won't let you die because of this."

"You're a grown man, Kakashi. You already decide things by yourself. Do as you wish, but consider that I won't collaborate in any type of strategy that involves you or that medical ninja." As she said this, she retired to her room again in order to join her things together.

"Damn it!" He muttered. We also went to his bedroom in order to prepare himself for the coming mission. And get dressed.

_Last night, he had sneaked out of the house in order to talk to the Hokage. He found her at Ichiraku's along with Shizune._

_He entered the ramen shop and sat next to Tsunade. She faced him._

"_I need a favour from you, Lady Hokage." He said. Somehow, she was already used to this type of speech._

"_I'm all ears."_

"_I need you to get me a mission."_

"_Look, __I know I had not been calling you for long, but missions haven't been arriving in much quantity, and most of them are to help people in diary tasks like-"_

"_No. That's not what I meant." Now, Tsunade was quite confused. "I need a mission out of Konoha. That way, I won't be registered in the Bingo Book when I get out."_

_Her eyes grew wide, but then she turned back to her calmness. "I can do that, since you plan to come back, of course. I can't maintain a ninja on a mission forever, you know?"_

"_Of course. I wish to come back. It's temporary, to help a friend."_

"_And is it dangerous?"_

"_You could say so, I guess. Some guys want some top secret information. I'll kill them, and then I'll come back. That's it."_

"_Then you'll take Shizune with you. You'll probably need a medical ninja."_

_He nodded. Actually, he was thinking about asking for a medical ninja as well. He got up from his seat and faced Shizune._

"_Be at my door tomorrow morning, after you take breakfast."_

"_You know, «after taking breakfast» is not a very specific time. Could you-"_

_But Kakashi had just puffed away while she was talking. "How rude…" She muttered. Tsunade smiled._

"Are you ready, Kakashi?" Hanare knocked at his bedroom door and he opened it.

"Oh, I thought you wouldn't collaborate with me or the medical ninja…"

"Shut up. Shall we go?"

He smiled. "Yes." He left the house, followed by her, only to find Shizune sat on the floor in the other side of the street. It seemed like she was sleeping.

"I feel another presence. Is somebody else here?" Hanare asked, confused.

"Yes, our medical ninja." Kakashi was looking at the sleeping woman.

They heard a small snore, and that allowed Hanare to understand where the woman was exactly, so she directed her blind eyes to her. "Is she really sleeping?" She asked.

Kakashi laughed. "I'll weak her up." As he said this, he threw a _kunai_ to the wall where Shizune was leaning on, hitting two centimetres away from her head.

The medical ninja immediately stirred up, rose and took a battle stance. Kakashi grinned to her.

"Calm down, hissing cat. It's me." He was in his traditional bored stance, his hand in his pockets.

Shizune instantly made an anger face and released a furious glance at the White Fang's son. It sure scared him, because his eyes grew wide and he took a step back. She started giving him a big lecture.

"Do you have any idea of how long I've been waiting here? You said «after breakfast»!"

"Exactly. We just finished our breakfast, Shizune."

Shizune sighed. It was useless to argue with Kakashi. He would just make up an excuse for every accusation she would attack with. She knew it.

"OK, forget it..." She took out a scroll from her bag as she sighed and handled it to him. "This is our supposed mission, it should give us a three months' time before we have to get back to the village."

Hanare, who had been quiet all this time, approached them. "What are you talking about?"

Kakashi took the task of explaining it to her. "I had to get a mission scroll for us, with another task, for us to be able to leave the village without being registered in the Bingo Book. Supposedly, we have to catch an S-ranked criminal, but we'll do what we need to do in the meantime, and then we'll get back to Konoha and quit the scroll task, like we hadn't been able to find the criminal."

The blind girl nodded. Shizune, who hadn't paid attention to the other girl until now, faced her to analyse her more carefully. Her face seemed familiar to her, but the eyes contrasted, and that wasn't allowing her to release who the girl was. She obviously wasn't a Hyuuga, so she only could be blind. Meanwhile, Kakashi talked.

"Shizune, Hanare, shall we go?"

Shizune's eyes grew wide. So that was it! She was Hanare, from the Lock Village! She wasn't blind, the last time she saw her. It was quite a shock.

"H-Hanare?" She let out. The blind girl answered.

"You recognized me. I was wondering if you were the Shizune I knew since the time Kakashi said your name, a while ago." Hanare started smiling.

Shizune nodded, but then she remembered the girl was now blind, so she said "Yes". She turned her face to Kakashi and realised that he was already in the end of the street.

"Are you coming or not?" He yelled from far.

The two girls rushed in his direction, Shizune guiding Hanare. This made the blind girl feel quite offended. She could orientate by her own!

Oh well, that also meant she could take a quick rest of her senses. After all, she didn't know the Hidden Leaf's plant very much. And with "very much", she meant nothing. The only way she had been able to find Kakashi's house was because his house smelled like him, literally. And it sounded like him, silent. Its walls felt like him, hard. The energy around the house tasted like the energy around Kakashi, somehow dangerous.

Actually, for someone who hadn't been in the Hidden Leaf, it would be much easier to orientate if that person was blind. At least, that's what she thought. Even if she wanted, could she really orientate another way?

They arrived at the village's great gates. As usual, Kotetsu and Izumo were sat at the gatehouse, talking about nothing interesting. They smiled as they saw Kakashi, and then the two girls.

"Hey, Kakashi." Kotetsu started. "Going out on a mission?" Izumo ended.

The white-haired nodded and showed them the scroll. Their eyes grew wide.

"So it's _this_ mission." Izumo was impressed. "You know, most of the ANBU couldn't complete it."

"I know. I'll manage to do it." As he said this, he left, taking the scroll, and the two girls followed him. He didn't really want to tell to the two gate guards the details of his objective...

**It took three chapters to put them on a mission, but I did it!**

**Anyway, here it is, the identity! Hanare! Do you remember her? :D Enjoy!**


	4. The Meeting

**And they're off to the mission! Kakashi, Shizune and Hanare left the Hidden Leaf one day ago. They're still in Konoha's surrounding forests. But where will they go to?**

They had finally found some place minimally safe to stay for the night. You could hear crickets singing. There was the sound of leaves driven by the wind, rippling with the current, a slight movement of peace and calm. All this gave Hanare the most relaxing feeling nature could hand her.

They were all sat in circle, next to the tents they had upped earlier, in the sunset. To enjoy this tranquilizing feeling, Hanare closed her eyes. Physically, it wouldn't do much of a difference. But psychologically? No one had the minimum idea…

Being blind, she had keened all her other senses, and with them, she would be able to "see" things. But it still wasn't the same as actually seeing. But she had picked the positive sides of this: there are things you can actually see better than others if you're blind. Did that "others" understand that? _I don't think so_, she immediately said to herself, not realising she had spoken out loud and had made the other two look at her, confused.

For example: blind people could see Nature another way. The others were able to actually see an image of the panorama. But was that all? Was that all that Nature had to give? An image?

No. And that she was sure of. Since she was blind, she had learned to see things other ways, including Nature, so every time she closed her eyes and smell, felt, taste and heard the Nature, she would actually have a way better image of Nature. In her mind.

This entire line of thinking was interrupted by Shizune.

"I'm going to find some wood. It can get really cold here."

Kakashi and Hanare, who was now attentive to the real world, nodded. She took advantage of Shizune's absence to talk to the White Fang's son.

"Kakashi?"

The man stirred up and looked at her. Hanare wasn't facing him; she was just looking at somewhere in the forest; to her, an empty and black space.

"What is it?" He finally said. She sighed.

"About Rin…" She hesitated.

Hearing her beloved's name, his face became obscure. "Why do you insist on that topic?"

"Why? I'll just pretend I didn't hear that. I think you really know why. What happened to her? I mean, really."

"I already told you, didn't I?" It seemed like every word was an effort for Kakashi. Rin's memory was far from erased from his memory. Would it ever be?

"And you think I would believe in that?" She was talking extremely calmly. It almost seemed weird.

"You believe in what you want. There's no other truth to tell."

She discovered where his voice was coming from, exactly, so she was now facing him. Even if he didn't look at her, her grey blind eyes continuity stabbing him were transforming that conversation into a living hell, for him. To put it worse, the matter they were talking about wasn't helping either.

"I don't know why you insist in hiding the truth, but I'll find what it is about Rin's death that you don't want to reveal." She continued with her calm tone.

"I'll say it again: I've already told you the truth; I killed her." This three last words killed him inside while he said them. And after.

"How can that be?" Her tone was now a lot more aggressive. And then calm again. "You loved her."

"Look, I'll see about Shizune. She's taking a while, isn't she?" He quickly said, in order to escape from that massacring situation. He disappeared in the woods.

A lot of feelings came to the surface. She really felt like she didn't belong there. It was so horrible to feel apart. A tear slipped down her face, but she quickly wipe it. It was now time to reconstruct things and get integrated. Right?

She stayed there, waiting and thinking.

/-/-/-/

Kakashi and Shizune were returning to the tents place with the wood. He was a bit apprehensive; not really in the mood to see Hanare, right now. But what could he do?

They were almost there, when a blonde monkey appeared right in front of him, suddenly, with his legs supported on a branch of a tree.

"What's up, Kakashi-sensei?!"

"Naruto?" Kakashi's eyes grew wide, but then he put a smile on his face. That really was what he was needing right now. "Humm… Your face kind of looks funny, upside down…" Kakashi laughed.

"Huh?" Naruto made an I-don't-believe-this-guy face. "Really? Is that what you have to say?"

The White Fang's son's eyes grew wide again. "W-what do you mean? What do you want me to say, Naruto?"

"Oh, I don't know! Maybe, how are you? Or what are you doing here, no?"

Shizune grinned. That situation was kind of funny, really.

"Huh? How are you? What are you doing here?" The sensei asked, ironically.

"I'm fine, thanks, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said with a smile. "I'm on a mission with Shikamaru and Ino, and we found a lady on our way, by chance, and it happened she knew you." He seemed angry, now.

"Oh yes. She's Hanare, from the Lock Village."

"And why did you let her alone? You're such a rude man, Kakashi-sensei."

"Is that the way you treat your sensei?!" Kakashi was indignant.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, because you really were impolite."

"Do you at least know the reason we let her alone?"

At this question, Naruto had no answer. "Humm… humm…"

The White Fang's son grinned. Checkmate. "We went to get some wood to make a bonfire."

"Oh…" Naruto let out. This time, Shizune also grinned.

"By the way, weren't you with Shikamaru and Ino? Where are they?"

"Making company to… humm…"

"Hanare?" Kakashi proposed.

"Hanare, yes!" Naruto nodded.

"Let's hurry, then." Shizune said. The two males nodded, and so they went.

/-/-/-/

Shizune, Kakashi and Naruto found Hanare, Shikamaru and Ino talking about something they didn't get because they stopped as soon as they sensed their presence. Shizune decided to ask.

"Hey! What are you guys talking about?" She started to arrange the wood for the bonfire.

Ino grinned and answered. "Hanare was telling us about your mission." Shikamaru remained quiet, wisely.

"The… mission?" Shizune looked at Hanare with a look of interrogation, even knowing she couldn't see it. She wondered what exactly the blind girl had said to the kids. Kakashi also seemed quite worried. Hanare sensed this, and decided to calm them down.

"Yes, about the S-ranked criminal…"

Both Shizune and the white-haired sighed in relief, subtly, of course. _I'm not stupid, you know?_ Hanare thought. She really wanted to say it out loud, be she would have to wait until the kids were gone. She decided to continue the conversation. "So, now it's time for you, kids, to tell me about your mission, isn't it?"

Naruto got excited about the idea of sharing their mission with someone who was actually interested.

"We're going to the Hidden Waterfalls!"

"Takigakure?" Hanare was starting to get interested.

Naruto nodded.

"So are we!" She suddenly said, happily. Shizune and Kakashi were confused.

"We… are?" Kakashi let out. The blind girl nodded.

"We may find some clues about the criminal, there. Remember?" Hanare faked.

"Humm… I don't know, humm…"

Shizune interrupted him. "Yeah, that's a good idea, Hanare." The medical ninja wasn't faking.

"It… is?" Kakashi was more and more muddled.

Shizune nodded. "Yes. You know why, right?"

"Humm… Of course I do…" Kakashi said, not sure of himself. This all thing sure needed an explanation!

Naruto was annoyed because everyone totally lost the interest on his mission. He no more was the centre of the attention! Ino also talked.

"Can we camp next to you, then?"

"We can actually travel together, right?" Hanare said. Shizune nodded, smiling.

"Cool!" Ino was excited about the idea of having three great jounin protecting their backs. It was kind of relaxing.

Kakashi wasn't getting it. He was completely out of it, actually. The White Fang's son looked at Shikamaru, who hadn't talked yet.

"Troublesome…" The chunin muttered.

Kakashi truly agreed, so he nodded. This didn't smell good. Such a quick decision? They would be caught in no time!

"Damn it!" He mumbled to himself. Yet, Shikamaru had heard it. _It seems someone is also thinking just like me._ He thought.

_Plus, they're hiding something…_

**And this is it: Chapter 4!**

**Shikamaru's understanding something, there. What could it be?**

**Enjoy+Follow+Favourite+Review!**

**:D**


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